The Advantage of Being Useless

I had a lovely birthday, where I traveled up the coast and made some new kiting friends. I couldn't even get up on the board, but still laughed like a child and felt thoroughly contented by the evening. Friends brought round pizza and beer, and then I went to sleep. Nice.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing not much. A bit of calligraphy, a lot of reading. This irritates one of my housemates, who believes we should maximise our free time with activities like walking, surfing, bowling, drinking, or watching a good film. Sitting still and looking at the mountains is, in his words, "not the spirit".

Not his spirit.

One of these books was written by a NZ counsellor called George Sweet. My reading is that the central idea is:
"I have no desire to change this person in any way".

He values being present for the client, listening deeply, but not trying to provide interventions or resolve conflicts. The client provides her own therapy, the counsellor is simply present for her.

The book is very Zen/Daoist in its spirituality and philosophy. It addresses a big question mark I have over eastern thinking: that of non-action and total acceptance. Reading between the lines, Mr Sweet thinks that the the best forum for change and healing is through not trying to achieve either.

It made me think.

It was also entirely written in handwriting, and had beautiful black and white photography on every page. A book to remember. Another book was, I admit, the Da Vinci Code. Although I'm only half way through, three words hit the mark for me: fun, exciting, and rubbish. I detest polemics and it is full of them. Hence, rubbish. But fun and excitement must not be ignored.